


it all started out as such an ordinary day

by pesha



Category: Sherrilyn Kenyon - Dark Hunter series
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 20:09:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pesha/pseuds/pesha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stop me if you've heard this one: a Dark-Hunter walks into a bear bar and so much for ordinary...</p>
            </blockquote>





	it all started out as such an ordinary day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BiPagan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BiPagan/gifts).



> My recipient wanted to know how the story would go if a Dark-Hunter were gay...and happened to mention that a story about the Weres wouldn't go amiss. I tried to fill both those requests. I truly hope this story will bring a smile for the holidays. Also: the majority of Dev's Welcome-to-Sanctuary speech comes directly from Sherrilyn Kenyon's website because I couldn't come up with a better way to say it than the way he always does; I wanted to give credit where it was due. &lt;3

He watched the door. Every man had to have a purpose in life or else that man's life was meaningless. His papa said something of that nature anyway and Dev Peltier was a bear who listened to the words of his papa and he watched the door. That was his purpose: watch the door.

Bouncing wasn't a glamorous job. He didn't make a lot of friends by keeping people in line when they all (mostly all) were coming to Sanctuary for no other reason than to cut loose and get _out_ of the very lines Dev was telling them to stay in-between.

Dev was fine with that though. The not making friends, the rough-housing, the grunt work was all---fine. He had a purpose in life and even if that purpose was nothing more than watching a door…it was enough for him. Dev was happy with his life; he had his family, friends worth having, and a purpose he could stand behind.

He was _happy_.

Then Acheron went three kinds of crazy and sent a redneck Dark-Hunter into his hometown to replace the Dark-Hunters they'd been losing like honey to bees lately.

Then Devereaux Peltier was far from happy.

It had all started out so _ordinary_ too. Just another day watching the door…

~*~

Dev had grown bored at the door. All the locals had already arrived and all the tourists had long since retired for the night. He hadn't greeted anyone in over an hour when the Dark-Hunter arrived. His muscles tensed as the smell of the immortal washed over him, raw and earthy and completely masculine. There was nothing in the scent of the Hunter to intrinsically make Dev's senses stand up and take notice but they did nonetheless.

The guy was tall and fairly tan for a dead guy. He was wearing broken down boots, worn jeans that were tight enough to make Dev's balls shrink in token sympathy, a pearl-button Western shirt, and an actual fucking Stetson on his head. In short, he looked like a redneck. Not swamp trash like they usually saw at Sanctuary but a _redneck_.

Dev had the strange urge to ask him if he'd ever wanted to play at being a mountaineer. He'd love to teach him a few things about bear attacks and, more importantly, how to survive them. He was losing his mind and not fulfilling his purpose all at the same time.

He forced his thoughts back on target by tossing a hank of his long blond hair out of his face and stepping directly into the Dark-Hunter's path, effectively barring his entrance to the bar. Dev's job was to watch the door. He could do that. Dark-Hunter or no Dark-Hunter, Dev Peltier could follow his papa's instructions and watch a damned door.

Dev was trying to remember his usual welcome line when the Dark-Hunter drawled out slow and rich as any molasses, "Son, you intend to say anything or are you gonna do us both a right favor and get back to your place?"

There. Arrogance. Dev could work with arrogance. He crossed his arms over his broad chest and straightened slightly to point out the difference in their sizes. Even as a man, Dev was hardly small; the Dark-Hunter would do well to remember that the Peltiers were _not_ men.

"Name's Dev and I am most definitely _not_ your son, Dark-Hunter. If you're the latest replacement, it might do you a world of good to keep in mind that this _is_ my place and in Sanctuary, you don't start nothing, there won't be nothing. Rules are simple here: no fighting, no biting, no magick. You break the rules, I break body parts. Come in peace or leave in pieces. If you're lucky enough to survive. Got it?"

The Dark-Hunter stepped close, far closer than any human would have ever dared to step up to the bear –especially after that speech- and he smelled _mouth-watering_ up close. It was all Dev could do not to lean over and rub his face into the dead man's neck to taste his scent up close and personal. He gave an unintentional growl that had his brothers –Cherif and Quinn, thankfully not Remi who was busy in the back helping Maman- coming over to investigate.

"I think I got it, _Dev_. Rules're straight-forward enough for even an old outlaw like myself to manage."

"Dev?"

Cherif looked as if he was about to start taking the Dark-Hunter down into the pieces Dev had warned the immortal about so he forced himself to respond even though he didn't know what was wrong with him, why he was acting the way he was, or what he could do to stop it. Dev had never been the one to get out of control; that was Remi's job. Dev was only supposed to watch the door.

"I've got it, Cherif."

He didn't. Not really. But Cherif didn't need to know that and neither did anyone else as far as Dev was concerned. He wanted to get this Dark-Hunter in and away from him before he embarrassed himself in front of his brothers even worse than he already had.

The Dark-Hunter cocked a dark brow, "Cherif?"

Dev saw the exact moment the Hunter recognized the resemblance between himself and his brothers. The wide eyes and whip-turn of the head from Dev back to his brothers and back to Dev himself again was a gratifying balm, something normal in an experience he could only describe as surreal.

"Damn, Dev, I was beginnin' to think you was a bear but now I'm optin' for one of them X-men types. You done gone and split yourself into thirds when I wasn't lookin'."

"Fourths," Quinn supplied helpfully, "Remi's in back helping Maman. Trust me when I say this: you don't want to meet Remi. He not understanding the rules, Dev?"

Dev shook his head, forced his mind back on task, "He got the rules. We were just…coming to an agreement. Right, Dark-Hunter?"

He nodded meaningfully at his brothers and hoped like Hell that Acheron's newest took the out he was offering. Dev really wasn't in the mood to clean up the mess associated with killing off one of Artemis's superboys. Plus, he had a feeling that he wouldn't be tearing into the Dark-Hunter in a way that he wanted his brothers witnessing if he got his paws on him.

"Sundown."

"Was a long ago," Dev blurted without thinking.

"And is what they call me. The Dark-Hunters, that is."

He held out his hand and Dev seized it in his own before thinking it through. His palm burned hot and fierce and he and the Dark-Hunter –Sundown, they call him Sundown- both hissed in reaction but neither let go. Dev couldn't even let go when the burning got bad enough to have Sundown swaying into him and his own knees feeling strained to keep them upright.

"What in all---"

"I don't know," Dev snapped and wrapped his free arm around the Dark-Hunter's shoulders and walked him awkwardly to the seat they kept for him on slow nights.

Sundown sat hard into the chair and Cherif shielded them while Dev worked to force his pain-tightened grip open. Sundown's hand looked far worse-for-the-wear than his own and Dev winced in sympathy. As a bear, it was hard for him to realize his own strength sometimes...in comparison, humans were just so fragile. That was one of the reasons Dev had never taken more of an interest in forming a relationship with one. He bedded plenty of their females but those encounters were always mindless, always quick, and always easy.

He had a feeling that there would be nothing easy about this Dark-Hunter even if their entire interaction had been mindless and quick so far. He didn't know what he expected to see when he opened his hand but what he did see certainly wasn't...well, it just wasn't _right_.

"What in Hell?" Sundown muttered, staring at the elaborate marking on his own palm, "I thought you said no magick."

Dev's heartbeat clapped as heavy as thunder in his chest. He looked from his hand to Sundown's and then over to his brother for support. He was lost, adrift in a cruel joke that made no sense.

"Quinn?"

"Dev, what have you done?"

He shook his head no. He hadn't done anything. He had only just met the Dark-Hunter.

Quinn's eyes flitted to his infamous tattoo of Artemis's symbol and Dev couldn't help his roar of protest. No! He hadn't done this. It was all a joke. A really fucking strange cosmic joke.

"No! I swear. I haven't even met him before today and you know me. Quinn, Cherif, I'm not---I've never even _thought_ about that and have you ever heard of a Dark-Hunter who has? C'mon! You think Artemis would recruit an acolyte who couldn't appreciate her beauty?"

Quinn and Cherif had exchanged a look between themselves that made Dev feel even more isolated and alone. He had never been on the outside of any interaction between them. They were more than brothers; the quads, for all their differences, were one and the same at heart.

"To the back," Cherif finally said, "We'll go to Carson's office. Quinn, go rile up Remi to keep Maman distracted."

Quinn looked like he'd rather go jerk Wren's tail than upset their ornery brother and Dev could hardly blame him. If he could think of a better plan, he'd have offered it, but he was merely going to have to owe his brother one for now.

"I say again: what in Hell is this? Bear, you gonna have to start explainin' soon or I'm not sure I'll be able to keep my peace."

Dev considered how it would feel to tell the Dark-Hunter to try it. He had a feeling his life would be much simpler if he merely eradicated this insane situation before it had a chance to _become_ an insane situation but his nostrils were full of the scent of free range and open planes he himself had never felt the urge to explore. He had a feeling he'd wind up taking the pieces out of his own hide before he'd take them out of the cowboy's if push came to shove.

"Trust me, Sundown. You want to come with me. We will figure this out. It isn't what I think it is so it has to be something else. We're going to go see our doctor and he will figure it out. Can you walk?"

Cherif's back tensed at Dev's question and he realized how it had sounded: concerned, worried, lover-like. He told himself again that the mark was _not_ the mark he thought it to be. It couldn't be. He wasn't willing to let it be.

The Dark-Hunter snorted and heaved himself to his feet. He promptly set to following Cherif as if he had been trained to follow the bear through the club's crowd.

Dev followed them both at a slower rate, leaving his post at the door unmanned (for non-riot-related reasons) for the first time in his adult life.

The day had started out so _ordinary_.

~*~

Quinn's ploy to set off Remi had worked _too_ well and Cherif had been forced to leave Dev alone with Sundown in Carson's office. The doctor was attending to another of their guests but he was on his way. Dev could hear him coming and that was what was keeping him sane while he was trapped in such close quarters with his _exquisitely_-scented friend.

"You care to give me a heads-up, Dev? Help a man out before he's ambushed?"

Dev growled low once more. He couldn't help it. He couldn't seem to control himself. He'd never loved the sound of his own name so much as when the cowboy drawled it out in his own low voice.

"What's your name? Your first name."

The Dark-Hunter tipped his hat back off his face to expose an endearingly confused expression. Clearly, he was not up on his Were anatomy if he was this confused by the marks.

Not that they were _those_ marks.

"All told, I'm William Jessup Brady, but I answer to Jess to those that are so inclined. That fine enough, Dev? I feel as if there's plenty happenin' here that I ought to be in the know of."

Sundown –no, _Jess_ held up his hand and Dev's stomach dropped to the floor at the site of the mark on his callused palm. He could still feel the strength of that hand's grip when he clenched his own marked hand into a fist. There was something strange at work here. He needed Carson to hurry up already. He had to get back to the door and this had to be---had to be over.

"It's---"

The door to the office opened as the doctor swooped in on them, piercing eyes taking in the Dark-Hunter's displayed palm and Dev's clenched fist all at once. Dev sighed gratefully; Carson would know what to do.

"What in Hell have you done, Devereaux Peltier?"

Dev surged to his feet, "Me! I've done a lot of fucked up, idiotic shit in my time, Carson, but this isn't me! I swear. I didn't do this. I just met him! Just now! Tell me what this is. Tell me what's wrong with me."

He figured if he sounded like he was begging, that was only fair as Dev was willing to beg anything and anyone to get out of this mess. Things like this –bears mating with Dark-Hunters- weren't meant to happen. Especially not _male_ bears with _male_ Dark-Hunters and fuck, Dev stared at his hand in horror, what would the goddess Artemis do to him when she found out?

Carson gently pushed him back down into one of his few office chairs and took Dev's hand into his own. He studied the mark in the light and dragged his nail across the skin of his palm to test its depth. Watching the doctor examine the symbol, Dev had never felt more naked. Point of fact, he'd rather _be_ naked and still at his post, watching the door, than bearing his mark and in the doctor's office.

"Anyone feelin' up to offerin' me an explanation yet?"

After satisfying himself with a thorough look at Dev's hand, the doctor turned to the Dark-Hunter to resume his analysis there. He started speaking less than a minute after he took Jess's hand and it took a full minute more for Dev to realize Carson was speaking in his soothing voice to try to calm _him_ as he was growling horribly at the doctor for handling the Dark-Hunter in his examination.

"The mark is completely secure and looks exactly as I would expect should you have taken it upon yourself to dally where men and beasts dare not. Truth be told, Dev, I can't offer you more than what I know and it's no different than what you've already figured for yourself."

Dev clenched his eyes shut and gritted his teeth. He counted to ten and reminded himself that it was his purpose to watch the door and Remi's purpose to lose his shit.

"The marks are real? They're real marks and all I did was shake the man's hand?"

"I can't tell you what you did or didn't do, Dev, but I can tell you what I can see and they look, feel, and even smell real to me. I don't know what else to tell you."

"_Somebody_ needs to tell **me** what in blazin' Hell is goin' on," Jess practically roared himself.

Carson's head snapped back around to Dev and he eyed him like prey. Dev didn't know how to explain his insensitivity so he didn't bother.

"Get out. I'll tell him. Get out."

There wasn't anything else he could say to the doctor. Carson offered him a screech of agreement before swooping back out his own office door, leaving the two of them alone again.

"Fine. He's gone. He's had a look at our hands and had hisself a fine word with you and now I think I deserve a fine word of my own with you, right?"

Dev nodded and swallowed around his dry mouth. His hand trembled as he reached for the Dark-Hunter's to match their marks back together again. There was a soft warmth this time that filled up all the cold places inside Dev that he had never even known existed before they were warm and gone.

"These marks...they are powerful symbols amongst my kind. They appear after one of our kind has had sex with their true mate. The mate the Fates have chosen for us to bear young with. We are not like your kind in that regard. I could not go now and mate with any female bear and have cubs. I could not take a human lover and have offspring with her either. Without these marks to signify a union, I would be unable to ever have children of my own."

Jess drew his hand back. He laughed, strained and strange in the silence.

"Well, Dev, it seems that the Fates have done you a grave disservice because it's hardly as if I'ma be able to give you those cubs. Not that you aren't a mighty fine lookin'...bear, but," he shrugged.

Dev couldn't help his smile, "You think I'm fine looking?"

"That's all you heard outta that is it?"

Dev nodded, lying never occurred to him, "It seemed like the most pertinent bit. I'm a little vain."

"Have you ever even been with a man, Dev? Ever thought you'd certainly like to try a walk on that wild side?"

He shook his head to the negative, again lying was not an option for him, "I'd never met you before either. I think the mark is affecting my brain. I can't seem to get over the way you smell...the sound of your voice saying my name...I think I'm going crazy."

Jess straightened in his chair, rubbed at his back. He looked more uncomfortable than Dev had yet to see him. Dev noticed he didn't comment on whether or not he himself had ever been with a man before.

"Yeah. Love can do that for you alright. Make you think you're gonna go crazy and then drive you right out of your ever-lovin' mind."

"This isn't love," Dev pointed out, "This is Fate."

"Fate?"

Dev nodded. It was simple enough from that perspective. Mating was a nice and uncomplicated matter usually. Weres fucked and if the mark was there, they were mated. It wasn't about choices or love or even like. It was all...Fate.

"What d'you suppose Artemis is gonna think about this Fate business when she finds out about it? Assumin', of course, that you're interested in seein' where this whole mate thing takes us."

"I don't know," Dev confessed.

They both spent a moment staring at their hands while trying to process the thought that so much could happen in such a short period of time on such an ordinary day. Dev suddenly laughed.

"Care t'let a man in on the joke?"

"Are you seriously interested in trying to mate with me? With a bear?"

Jess smiled an outlaw's smile and tipped his hat to Dev, "Well I always did say that Davy Crockett didn't have shit on me. I'd wrestle a bear any day but no bear's been interested in takin' me for a tumble 'til I met you. So I reckon I'm willin' to try if you are. You got yourself an idea, I take it."

Dev returned Jess's smile with his own, "Yeah. I do. Savitar."

"Savitar?"

Dev nodded. That about summed it up for him.

"What's a Savitar?"

"He's the one fellow big and bad enough to make sure that if Fate says we're to be together, then your bitch-goddess isn't going to be the one to tear us apart."

"Bitch-goddess?"

Jess looked like he was going to laugh but didn't know if he ought to dare. Dev's palm tingled and he was warm everywhere and drowning in the scent of the Dark-Hunter sitting across from him, bearing his mating mark.

"Yeah. Simi –Ash's demon- taught me that one. I think it's an apt description for Artemis. Trust me when I say this: she won't fuck with us if Savitar has anything to say about it."

"You're talkin' awful raw about a goddess whose symbol you're sportin'..."

Dev almost couldn't make himself breathe the air was so thick. He leaned forward, barely able to stand himself as Jess moved to do the same.

"Maybe I didn't get it for her."

"No?" Jess asked, the word a careless whisper across Dev's lips.

"No," Dev whispered back, "Maybe I got it for you."

As the Dark-Hunter closed the distance between them, kissing the very heart out of him, Dev had never been more grateful for Fate...or for the fact that his ornery brother was currently distracting his maman. He didn't look forward to her finding out but he was almost insanely amused at the thought of the look on Artemis's face when he asked Savitar to retrieve a Dark-Hunter's soul for a lowly bear.

They broke apart as Dev couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"Y'know, I've had a lot of reactions to my kissin' afore but laughter is never a good sign. Could make a man question hisself."

Dev plucked the cowboy's hat off and tossed it towards the corner. He leaned in for another kiss and growled low and deep as the Dark-Hunter met his passion with his own. There was certainly nothing quite so delicate about the Dark-Hunter now.

"I was only thinking: today was such an ordinary day."

Jess pulled at the front of his shirt, unsnapping the buttons all in one easy go, "Who wants to be ordinary?"

Dev thought that was a good fucking point and went with it.

Fuck ordinary. Who needed it? Not this bear, that was certain.


End file.
